EMCC men fall 79-72 to Eastern Florida State despite comeback attempt in Day 2 of Best Western Holiday Classic in Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Despite a furious second-half comeback, the East Mississippi Community College men's basketball team dropped a tough 79-72 decision Tuesday to Eastern Florida State College in second-day action of the Best Western Holiday Classic played on the campus of Tallahassee Community College.

On the heels of Monday's key 79-70 road win over host Tallahassee, that featured a strong first-half shooting effort by the Lions, EMCC couldn't get on track from the field during the opening half of Tuesday's contest.  Against the EFSC Titans, guided by former East Mississippi assistant coach Jeremy Shulman, the Lions made just 10-of-34 (29%) shots prior to halftime, including just one made 3-pointer in 13 trey tries.

Down by as many as 16 points (29-13) in the first half and trailing 37-26 at the break, EMCC was relegated to playing catch-up throughout the second stanza.  Still trailing by double figures (61-50) midway through the half, the Lions went on an 8-2 run that cut the deficit to five points (63-58) on an Avery Woodson 3-pointer coming at the 6:27 mark.

Woodson, who missed all six of his three-point attempts in the opening half, came up clutch again for the four-time reigning NJCAA Region 23 champions by drilling a game-tying 3-pointer with just under two minutes remaining to cap an 11-4 spurt and knot the score at 69-all.           

However, Eastern Florida State's Torrance Rowe answered with an equally clutch 3-pointer to put the Titans back on top by three points.  Perhaps the game's most critical play came following a 1-of-2 effort at the charity stripe by EMCC's Devonta Pollard to make it a 72-70 ballgame.  With less than a minute to play in regulation and just two seconds left on the shot clock, EFSC's Demetrius McReynolds connected on a guarded, fall-away jumper off an inbounds play to make it a two-possession contest.

McReynolds then essentially sealed the contest for the Titans by hitting a pair of free throws and increasing the margin to 76-70 with just 14.4 seconds remaining in the game.

Improving to 12-3 on the season, Eastern Florida State was led by Rowe's 17 points, highlighted by 4-of-7 accuracy from beyond the three-point arc.  Shaheed Davis followed with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting for the winners.

Fresh off Monday's 24-point effort against Tallahassee, EMCC sophomore guard Jacolby Mobley paced a quartet of twin-digit Lion scorers with 17 points versus EFSC.  Woodson followed with a dozen points, while Davon "Chuck" Ester and Pollard added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

For the game, the victors out-shot EMCC 46 percent (27-of-59) to 38 percent (23-of-60), though both teams struggled from three-point range by combining for just 10-of-48 (21%) three-point shooting between them.

Coach Mark White's 6-2 EMCC Lions will return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 7 by taking on East Central Community College in Decatur.  Coach Sharon Thompson's 5-4 EMCC Lady Lions will tip off doubleheader hoops action against the home-standing ECCC Lady Warriors at 5:30 p.m., following by a scheduled 7:30 p.m. men's game in the nightcap.